Extraction, aggregation and query of maintenance data for a manufactured product

ABSTRACT

A method is provided that includes receiving a first electronic document for a manufactured product, with the first electronic document including first data regarding the manufactured product. The method includes extracting the first data from the first electronic document. And the method includes correlating the first data so extracted and second data regarding the manufactured product to produce aggregated data including the first data and second data, and storing the aggregated data in a storage from which the aggregated data is queryable.

TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to maintenance of amanufactured product and, in particular, to extraction, aggregation andquery of maintenance data for a manufactured product such as anaircraft.

BACKGROUND

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of structural products andparticularly complex structural products such as aircraft and othervehicles provide their customers with multiple documents and datasources to help their customers to safely and efficiently maintain andoperate their products. In the context of aircraft, an OEM may providetheir airline customers with numerous electronic documents includingmaintenance documents, operations documents, engineering diagrams,technical drawings, wiring diagrams and the like. Each of thesedocuments may provide information about a specific system, subsystem orpart of the structural product, or address a specific type ofmaintenance action (e.g., fix an electrical wiring problem). All ofthese documents are authored in such a way as to enable a user such asmaintenance personnel to locate information in order to perform a task,to gain knowledge, to help troubleshoot a problem with some system, etc.

Many times a maintenance person will need to look up and extract thesame type of information from multiple documents or multiple locationsin a document. For example, before an airline performs a maintenancecheck for one of their aircraft, it is useful to anticipate, purchaseand make available all of the materials (parts, consumable materials,etc.) that may be required for that maintenance check so that all of themaintenance tasks that may be performed during that maintenance checkmay be efficiently accomplished without delay. This often requiressignificant, time-consuming research of the maintenance tasks, and findout what parts may be required to perform the maintenance tasks. Thisresearch is not only time consuming for the user, but also requiressignificant computing resources to search through multiple documents.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Example implementations of the present disclosure are directed to animproved apparatus, method and computer-readable storage medium forextraction, aggregation and query of maintenance data. Exampleimplementations compile data from multiple electronic maintenancedocuments to enable one to query the resulting aggregated data to findinformation that may be located in multiple documents or multiplelocations in a document. This may not only reduce the time required fora user to research maintenance tasks, but may also reduce the computingresources required to search through the data from multiple electronicdocuments.

The present disclosure thus includes, without limitation, the followingexample implementations. In some example implementations, a method isprovided that includes receiving a first electronic document (e.g., afirst electronic maintenance document) for a manufactured product, thefirst electronic document including first data regarding themanufactured product; extracting the first data from the firstelectronic document; correlating the first data so extracted and seconddata regarding the manufactured product to produce aggregated dataincluding the first data and second data; and storing the aggregateddata in a storage from which the aggregated data is queryable.

In some example implementations of the method of the preceding or anysubsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, themethod further comprises receiving a second electronic document (e.g.,second electronic maintenance document) for the manufactured product,the second electronic document including the second data; and extractingthe second data from the second electronic document, wherein the secondelectronic document is received, and the second data is extracted,before the first data and second data are correlated.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding or anysubsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, themethod further comprises receiving a third electronic document (e.g.,third electronic maintenance document) for the manufactured product, thethird electronic document including third data regarding themanufactured product; extracting the third data from the thirdelectronic document; correlating the aggregated data and the third dataso extracted to produce further aggregated data including the aggregateddata and third data; and storing the further aggregated data in thestorage from which the further aggregated data is queryable.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding or anysubsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof,correlating the first data and second data includes correlating items ofthe first data and items of the second data, and wherein correlating theaggregated data and the third data includes correlating the items offirst data and items of third data, and thereby correlating the items ofsecond data and the items of third data, the items of third dataotherwise being incapable of correlation with the items of second data.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding or anysubsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the firstdata and second data are in a markup language format, and items of thefirst data and items of the second data are encapsulated by tags of themarkup language format, and wherein correlating the first data andsecond data includes correlating the items of first data and items ofthe second data based at least in part on the tags.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding or anysubsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the firstdata is in a markup language format, and correlating the first data andsecond data includes recognizing items of the first data and theirrelationship to items of the second data independent of the markuplanguage format.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding or anysubsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, themethod further comprises receiving a search query; executing the searchquery on the aggregated data, including retrieving items of first dataand correlated items of second data; and producing a response to thesearch query including the items of first data and correlated items ofsecond data.

In some example implementations of the method of any preceding or anysubsequent example implementation, or any combination thereof, the firstelectronic document is a task card manual with first data including adescription of tasks on or using parts of the manufactured product, andthe second electronic document is an illustrated parts catalog withsecond data including a description of the parts of the manufacturedproduct, and wherein the method further comprises receiving a searchquery for a task card from the task card manual; executing the searchquery on the aggregated data, including retrieval of a description of amaintenance task covered by the task card from the first data, and alist of parts for the maintenance task from the second data; andproducing a response to the search query including the description ofthe maintenance task and the list of parts for the maintenance task.

In some example implementations, an apparatus is provided that comprisesa processor and a memory storing executable instructions that, inresponse to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus to at leastperform the method of any preceding example implementation, or anycombination thereof. This may include implementation of an integrateddata extraction, aggregation and query system configured to performsteps of the method.

In some example implementations, a computer-readable storage medium isprovided. The computer-readable storage medium is non-transitory and hascomputer-readable program code portions stored therein that, in responseto execution by a processor, cause an apparatus to at least perform themethod of any preceding example implementation, or any combinationthereof.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be apparent from a reading of the following detaileddescription together with the accompanying drawings, which are brieflydescribed below. The present disclosure includes any combination of two,three, four or more features or elements set forth in this disclosure,regardless of whether such features or elements are expressly combinedor otherwise recited in a specific example implementation describedherein. This disclosure is intended to be read holistically such thatany separable features or elements of the disclosure, in any of itsaspects and example implementations, should be viewed as intended,namely to be combinable, unless the context of the disclosure clearlydictates otherwise.

It will therefore be appreciated that this Brief Summary is providedmerely for purposes of summarizing some example implementations so as toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure.Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above described exampleimplementations are merely examples and should not be construed tonarrow the scope or spirit of the disclosure in any way. Other exampleimplementations, aspects and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, theprinciples of some described example implementations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)

Having thus described example implementations of the disclosure ingeneral terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings,which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an integrated data extraction, aggregation and querysystem according to various example implementations of the presentdisclosure;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a data collection subsystem according tovarious example implementations;

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate respectively a portion of a task card from atask card manual (TCM) and its corresponding Standard Generalized MarkupLanguage (SGML) marked data, according to various exampleimplementations;

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate respectively a portion of a page fromaircraft illustrated parts catalog (AIPC) and its corresponding SGMLmarked data, according to various example implementations;

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that may beprovided by a query subsystem, according to various exampleimplementations;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are flowcharts illustrating various steps in a methodaccording to various example implementations; and

FIG. 8 illustrates an apparatus according to some exampleimplementations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some implementations of the present disclosure will now be describedmore fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, inwhich some, but not all implementations of the disclosure are shown.Indeed, various implementations of the disclosure may be embodied inmany different forms and should not be construed as limited to theimplementations set forth herein; rather, these example implementationsare provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, andwill fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in theart. For example, unless otherwise indicated, reference to something asbeing a first, second or the like should not be construed to imply aparticular order. Also, for example, reference may be made herein toquantitative measures, values, relationships or the like (e.g., planar,coplanar, perpendicular). Unless otherwise stated, any one or more ifnot all of these may be absolute or approximate to account foracceptable variations that may occur, such as those due to engineeringtolerances or the like. Like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout.

Example implementations of the present disclosure relate generally tomaintenance of a manufactured (structural) product. More particularly,various example implementations relate to extraction, aggregation andquery of maintenance data for a manufactured product. Exampleimplementations will be primarily described in conjunction withaerospace applications in which the manufactured product is an aircraft.It should be understood, however, that example implementations may beutilized in conjunction with a variety of other applications, both inthe aerospace industry and outside of the aerospace industry. Otherexamples of suitable manufactured products include any of a number ofdifferent types of vehicles, such as spacecraft, watercraft, motorvehicles, railed vehicles and the like. Furthermore, it should beunderstood that unless otherwise specified, the terms “data,” “content,”“information,” and similar terms may be at times used interchangeably.

FIG. 1 illustrates an integrated data extraction, aggregation and querysystem 100 for maintenance of a manufactured product, according to someexample implementations of the present disclosure. The integrated dataextraction, aggregation and query system may include one or more of eachof any of a number of different subsystems (each an individual system)for performing one or more functions or operations of the integrateddata extraction, aggregation and query system. As shown, for example,the system may include data collection and query subsystems 102, 104coupled to a storage 106. Although being shown together as part of thesystem, it should be understood that either of the subsystems or storagemay function or operate as a separate system without regard to theother. And further, it should be understood that the system may includeone or more additional or alternative subsystems than those shown inFIG. 1.

In accordance with example implementations of the present disclosure,maintenance data for a manufactured product may be provided from anumber of different sources, including electronic documents, databasesand the like. As described herein, an electronic document (or simplydocument) may be any electronic media content capable of beingvisualized in an electronic and/or printed (or printable) form. Adocument may be composed of one or more constituent document componentsthat may be groupings of its media content such as between basicbreaking points. The document components may depend on the type ofdocument and may include, for example, electronic pages, slides,diagrams, drawings, still images, videos or the like. The documentcomponent may at times be generally referred to as a “page,” althoughthe document component need not necessarily be an electronic page as itmay include other types of components. In instances in which a documentincludes only one component, the document and its component may be oneand the same.

Each page of a document may be formed of data from which a visualrepresentation such as an image of it (or rather its media content) maybe generated in an electronic and/or printed (or printable) form. Insome examples, an electronic document and in turn its pages may be in amarkup language format including data encapsulated by tags. One exampleof a suitable markup language is the Standard Generalized MarkupLanguage (SGML). Other examples of suitable markup languages includeScribe, Generalized Markup Language (GML), HyperText Markup Language(HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Extensible HTML (XHTML) andthe like.

In various examples, one or more sources of data may be for amanufactured product or other complex system such as an aircraft thatmay be generally composed of one or more divisions each of which may becomposed of one or more systems of subsystems, assemblies, componentsand the like. In this regard, the components of the manufactured productmay be assembled into a number of assemblies, which in turn may beassembled into a number of subsystems of the manufactured product. Thesubsystems may be assembled into systems, and the systems assembled orotherwise grouped into divisions of the manufactured product. In thecontext of an aircraft, one or more components, assemblies, subsystemsor systems may be designed as a modular component of the aircraft oftenreferred to as a line-replaceable unit (LRU), of which a single aircraftmay include a number of LRUs and other components, assemblies,subsystems or systems. Any of the manufactured product itself or any ofits divisions, systems, subsystems, assemblies, components or the likemay at times be generally referred to as a “part” of the manufacturedproduct.

A source of data regarding a manufactured product may be generallyreferred to herein as a “source of data,” or more particularly in someexamples, a “source of maintenance data.” Similarly, a document thatincludes data regarding a manufactured product may be generally referredto herein as a “document,” or more particularly in some examples, a“maintenance document.” Data regarding a manufactured product mayinclude, for example, maintenance data, operations data, engineeringdiagrams, technical drawings, wiring diagrams and the like (anygenerally referred to as a “source of maintenance data”). A source ofmaintenance data may be composed of or otherwise include data thatdescribe the manufactured product. Depending on the manufacturedproduct, this data may describe the manufactured product at any of anumber of different levels, such as at the product-level,division-level, system-level, subsystem-level, assembly-level orcomponent-level.

In addition to or in lieu of the manufactured product, a source ofmaintenance data may be composed of or otherwise include data thatdescribe or one or more maintenance or operations tasks on or using oneor more parts of the manufactured product (either generally referred toas a “maintenance task”). These may include maintenance tasks as foroperation, installation, maintenance, repair, removal, replacement ortesting of part(s) of the manufactured product. Some maintenance tasksmay include multiple subtasks, and some subtasks may include multiplemaintenance actions. Again depending on the manufactured product, thisdata may describe a maintenance task at any of a number of differentlevels, such as at the task-level, subtask-level or maintenance-actionlevel.

Examples of suitable sources of aircraft maintenance data include,again, engineering diagrams, technical drawings, wiring diagrams and thelike. Other examples of suitable sources of aircraft maintenance datainclude an aircraft illustrated parts catalog (AIPC), aircraft flightmanual (AFM), aircraft maintenance manual (AMM), aircraft recoverymanual (ARM), airworthiness directive (AD), component maintenance manual(CMM), component maintenance manual parts list (CMMIPL), configurationchange support data (CCSD), configuration deviation list (CDL),consumable products manual (CPM), engine (shop) manual (EM), engineeringdrawings (ED), equipment list (EL), dispatch deviation guide (DDG),engine cleaning inspection and repair manual (CIR), engine illustratedparts catalog (EIPC), engine parts configuration management section(EPCM), fault repair manual (FRM), fault reporting and fault isolationmanual (FRM/FIM), flight crew operations manual (FCOM), generalmaintenance manual (GMM), illustrated tool and equipment manual (ITEM),in-service activity report (ISAR), maintenance planning document (MPD),maintenance review board report (MRB), maintenance synoptics,maintenance tips (MT), maintenance training manual (MTM), master minimumequipment list (MMEL), non-destructive testing manual (NDT), power plantbuild-up manual (PPBM), power plant build-up manual illustrated partslist (PPBMIPL), production management database (PMDB), repair record,service bulletin (SB), service bulletin index (SBI), service letter(SL), structural repair manual (SRM), systems description section (SDS),system schematics manual (SSM), task card manual (TCM), tool andequipment manual (TEM), weight and balance manual (WBM), wiring diagrammanual (WDM) or the like. These sources may be formatted in any of anumber of different manners, including as electronic documents,databases or the like.

As explained in greater detail below, then, the data collectionsubsystem 102 of the integrated data extraction, aggregation and querysystem 100 may be generally configured to receive sources of data suchas maintenance documents, databases and the like for a manufacturedproduct, and extract and aggregate data regarding the manufacturedproduct from those sources. The storage 106 may be generally configuredto store the aggregated data. And the query subsystem 104 may begenerally configured to receive a search query for data regarding themanufactured product, and produce a response including items of datafrom the aggregated data in the storage.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate more particularly the data collectionsubsystem 102 according to example implementations of the presentdisclosure. The data collection subsystem may include one or more ofeach of any of a number of different elements for performing one or morefunctions or operations of the data collection subsystem. As shown, forexample, the data collection subsystem may include a data parser 202,data extractor 204 and/or data correlator 206. Although being showntogether as part of the data collection subsystem, it should beunderstood that any of the data parser, data extractor or datacorrelator may function or operate as a separate system or subsystemwithout regard to the others. And further, it should be understood thatthe data collection subsystem may include one or more additional oralternative elements than those shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2A illustrates in particular first and second data parsers 202 a,202 b, and first and second data extractors 204 a, 204 b, configured tooperate on respectively first and second sources of data for amanufactured product such as an aircraft. As described below, thesesources of data may be electronic documents (first and second documents)such as maintenance documents with maintenance data, although it shouldbe understood that in some examples, at least the second source of datamay be formatted in another manner (e.g., as a database). As alsodescribed below, the data may include maintenance data in electronicmaintenance documents (e.g., first and second maintenance documents),although it should be understood that the data need not be maintenancedata, and the documents need not be maintenance documents.

In some example implementations, the first and second maintenancedocuments may include respectively first and second data regarding themanufactured product, and in a markup language format such as SGML. Moreparticularly, for example, the first electronic maintenance document maybe a task card manual with first data including a description ofmaintenance tasks on or using parts of the manufactured product. Thesecond electronic maintenance document may be an illustrated partscatalog with second data including a description of the parts of themanufactured product.

Although shown in FIG. 2A as including two data parsers 202 and dataextractors 204, it should be understood that the data collectionsubsystem 102 may include fewer or more data parsers and dataextractors. As described in greater detail below, FIG. 2B furtherillustrates a third data parser 202 c and data extractor 204 c for athird document (e.g., third maintenance document) including third dataregarding the manufactured product. It should also be understood thateach data parser and data extractor may be configured to operate on morethan one source of maintenance data. The data collection subsystem maytherefore in some examples include a single data parser and dataextractor configured to operate on multiple sources of maintenance data.

The first and second data parsers 202 a, 202 b may be configured toreceive respectively first and second electronic maintenance documents.Each data parser may disassemble a respective maintenance document intoa plurality of constituent pages or other suitable components each ofwhich includes respective data. The maintenance document may be receivedfrom any of a number of different sources such as from a file storage,database storage, cloud storage or the like. The data parser may beconfigured to disassemble its respective maintenance document in any ofa number of different manners. In one example, the data parser may bemay be configured to disassemble its maintenance document according tothe maintenance document (e.g., TCM, AIPC) or type of maintenancedocument (e.g., engineering diagram, technical drawing, wiring diagram,manual, etc.). The data parser may therefore also be configured toidentify the type of the maintenance document, such as based on theformat of the document, business rules or by user input.

The first and second data extractors 204 a, 204 b may be configured toextract respectively first and second data from the disassembled pagesof respectively the first and second maintenance documents. Each dataextractor may extract data from the disassembled pages of a respectivemaintenance document in any of a number of different manners, and theextracted data may in some examples depend on the maintenance documentor type of maintenance document. In the context of an aircraft TCMcomposed of constituent task cards (document components) with datadescribing maintenance tasks, the data extractor may extract from eachtask card, task numbers, maintenance actions, expendable aircraft partsand the like. For an AIPC, the data extractor may extract part numbers,Air Transport Association (ATA) codes, quantity and the like.

The data correlator 206 may be configured to receive and correlate thefirst and second data so extracted by the first and second extractors204 a, 204 b to produce aggregated data. The data correlator correlatesthe data in any of a number of different manners. In some examples,items of the first data and items of the second data in respectively thefirst electronic maintenance document and second electronic maintenancedocument are encapsulated by tags of the markup language format (e.g.,SGML). In these examples, the data correlator may correlate the items offirst data and items of the second data based at least in part on thetags, such as in the case of a common tag that may be used to link thefirst data and second data. In some examples, one or more tags may beinferred from the data itself and their relation to other data withoutregard to the markup language format. In these examples, the datacorrelator may recognize items of the first data and their relationshipto items of the second data independent of the markup language format.

The data correlator 206 may be coupled to the storage 106, which may beconfigured to store the aggregated data produced by the data correlator,and from which the aggregated data is queryable. The aggregated data maybe formatted and stored in any of a number of different manners, andhence, the storage may be of any of a number of different types.Examples of suitable types of storage include file storage, databasestorage, cloud storage or the like.

In the case of more than two sources of maintenance data (e.g.,maintenance documents), the data may be extracted and correlated at thesame time or in stages. In some examples, data for a plurality ofdocuments (e.g., first and second maintenance documents) may beextracted and correlated to produce aggregated data, and then data forlater maintenance documents may be extracted and correlated with theaggregated data to produce further aggregated data, which may be storedin the storage 208. This may be particularly useful in instances inwhich data for one of the documents is needed to correlate data from twoother documents that may otherwise be in capable of correlation.

As shown in FIG. 2B, the third data parser 202 c may be configured toreceive and disassemble the third electronic maintenance document forthe manufactured product. The third data extractor 204 c may beconfigured to extract the third data from the disassembled thirdelectronic maintenance document. The data correlator may then beconfigured to the aggregated data (in the storage 208) and the thirddata so extracted to produce further aggregated data including theaggregated data and third data, which may then be placed in the storage.In some examples, the data correlator may correlate the items of firstdata and items of third data, and thereby correlate the items of seconddata and the items of third data, with the items of third data otherwisebeing incapable of correlation with the items of second data.

To further illustrate aspects of the data correlator 206, reference ismade to FIGS. 3A, 3B, 4A and 4B. FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate respectivelya portion of a task card 300 from a TCM and its corresponding SGMLmarked data 302, and FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate respectively a portionof a page 400 from an AIPC and its corresponding SGML marked data 402.As shown, the task card may include an entry 304 that describes a part(a filter) and a reference to that part (“DD”) 404 at a location(“21-AA-BB-CC”) 406 in the AIPC. Similarly, the SGML marked data for thetask card and AIPC may include respective SGML tags 306, 408 thatidentify the part and location in the AIPC. In these examples, the datacorrelator may be configured to correlate items of data in the TCM andAIPC based on the SGML tags, or based on inferences that may be madefrom interpreting the data and their relation without regard to the SGMLtags.

Returning to FIG. 1, aggregated (or further aggregated) data stored inthe storage 106 may be generally queryable, such as through the querysubsystem 104 of the extraction, aggregation and query system 100. Asindicated above, the query subsystem may be generally configured toreceive a search query for data regarding the manufactured product, andproduce a response including items of data from the aggregated data.More particularly, in some examples, the query subsystem may beconfigured to receive and execute a search query on the aggregated data.Execution of the search query may include retrieval of items of firstdata and correlated items of second data from the aggregated data. Thequery subsystem may then produce a response to the search queryincluding the items of first data and correlated items of second data.The response may be produced in any of a number of formats, such as in atable that may be provided in a spreadsheet or other suitable manner. Aswill be appreciated, the query subsystem may be implemented in a numberof different manners, such as in a search engine, database managementsystem or the like.

In some examples in which the first maintenance document is a TCM andthe second maintenance document is an AIPC, the query subsystem 104 ofthe extraction, aggregation and query system 100 may receive a searchquery for a task card from the task card manual. The query subsystem mayexecute the search query on the aggregated data, including retrieval ofa description of a maintenance task covered by the task card from thefirst data, and a list of parts for the maintenance task from the seconddata. And the query subsystem may produce a response to the search queryincluding the description of the maintenance task and the list of partsfor the maintenance task

FIG. 5 illustrates graphical user interface (GUI) 500 that may beprovided by the query subsystem 104 in the context of aggregated datafrom a TCM and AIPC. As shown in FIG. 5, the query subsystem may enablea user to search for parts and optional parts (from an AIPC) thatcorrespond to associated task cards (from a TCM). The query subsystemmay retrieve items of data from the TCM for a desired task card andcorrelated items of data for parts and optional parts from an AIPC, andproduce the response to the search query. FIG. 6 illustrates a GUI 600including aggregated data for a desired task card, including data formaintenance task(s) described by the task card (from the TCM), and datafor parts implicated by the task(s) (from the AIPC).

To further illustrate example implementations of the present disclosure,in some more specific implementations, key maintenance documents that anairline needs to maintain their aircraft may be in a common SGML format.The data collection subsystem 102 may take the SGML marked data fromeach maintenance document and aggregate them into a common storage 106.This may enable a single batch search for data across the maintenancedocuments. For example, an airline may assemble a list of tasks to beperformed on a maintenance check for a specific aircraft on aspreadsheet, and request a report of all the consumable materialsrequired for those tasks. The spreadsheet list may be input into thequery subsystem 104, which may search and return descriptions of theparts for each of those tasks from the storage, and compile and return asuitable report.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are flowcharts illustrating various steps in a method700 according to some example implementations of the present disclosure.As shown at block 702, the method may include receiving a firstelectronic document (e.g., first electronic maintenance document) for amanufactured product, with the first electronic document including firstdata regarding the manufactured product. The method may includeextracting the first data from the first electronic document, as shownat block 704. And the method may include correlating the first data soextracted and second data regarding the manufactured product to produceaggregated data including the first data and second data, and storingthe aggregated data in a storage from which the aggregated data isqueryable, as shown at blocks 706, 708.

Referring now in particular to FIG. 7B, in some examples, the method mayfurther include receiving a search query, as shown at block 710. Themethod may include executing the search query, including retrievingitems of first data and correlated items of second data from theaggregated data, as shown at block 712. And the method may includeproducing a response to the search query including the items of firstdata and correlated items of second data, as shown at block 714.

According to example implementations of the present disclosure,integrated data extraction, aggregation and query system 100 and itssubsystems including the data collection and query subsystems 102, 104and/or storage 106 may be implemented by various means. Means forimplementing the system and its subsystems may include hardware, aloneor under direction of one or more computer programs from acomputer-readable storage medium. In some examples, one or moreapparatuses may be configured to function as or otherwise implement thesystem and its subsystems shown and described herein. In examplesinvolving more than one apparatus, the respective apparatuses may beconnected to or otherwise in communication with one another in a numberof different manners, such as directly or indirectly via a wired orwireless network or the like.

FIG. 8 illustrates an apparatus 800 according to some exampleimplementations of the present disclosure. Generally, an apparatus ofexemplary implementations of the present disclosure may comprise,include or be embodied in one or more fixed or portable electronicdevices. Examples of suitable electronic devices include a smartphone,tablet computer, laptop computer, desktop computer, workstationcomputer, server computer or the like. The apparatus may include one ormore of each of a number of components such as, for example, a processor802 (e.g., processor unit) connected to a memory 804 (e.g., storagedevice).

The processor 802 is generally any piece of computer hardware that iscapable of processing information such as, for example, data, computerprograms and/or other suitable electronic information. The processor iscomposed of a collection of electronic circuits some of which may bepackaged as an integrated circuit or multiple interconnected integratedcircuits (an integrated circuit at times more commonly referred to as a“chip”). The processor may be configured to execute computer programs,which may be stored onboard the processor or otherwise stored in thememory 804 (of the same or another apparatus).

The processor 802 may be a number of processors, a multi-core processoror some other type of processor, depending on the particularimplementation. Further, the processor may be implemented using a numberof heterogeneous processor systems in which a main processor is presentwith one or more secondary processors on a single chip. As anotherillustrative example, the processor may be a symmetric multi-processorsystem containing multiple processors of the same type. In yet anotherexample, the processor may be embodied as or otherwise include one ormore ASICs, FPGAs or the like. Thus, although the processor may becapable of executing a computer program to perform one or morefunctions, the processor of various examples may be capable ofperforming one or more functions without the aid of a computer program.

The memory 804 is generally any piece of computer hardware that iscapable of storing information such as, for example, data, computerprograms (e.g., computer-readable program code 806) and/or othersuitable information either on a temporary basis and/or a permanentbasis. The memory may include volatile and/or non-volatile memory, andmay be fixed or removable. Examples of suitable memory include randomaccess memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard drive, a flashmemory, a thumb drive, a removable computer diskette, an optical disk, amagnetic tape or some combination of the above. Optical disks mayinclude compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write(CD-R/W), DVD or the like. In various instances, the memory may bereferred to as a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readablestorage medium is a non-transitory device capable of storinginformation, and is distinguishable from computer-readable transmissionmedia such as electronic transitory signals capable of carryinginformation from one location to another. Computer-readable medium asdescribed herein may generally refer to a computer-readable storagemedium or computer-readable transmission medium.

In addition to the memory 804, the processor 802 may also be connectedto one or more interfaces for displaying, transmitting and/or receivinginformation. The interfaces may include a communications interface 808(e.g., communications unit) and/or one or more user interfaces. Thecommunications interface may be configured to transmit and/or receiveinformation, such as to and/or from other apparatus(es), network(s) orthe like. The communications interface may be configured to transmitand/or receive information by physical (wired) and/or wirelesscommunications links. Examples of suitable communication interfacesinclude a network interface controller (NIC), wireless NIC (WNIC) or thelike.

The user interfaces may include a display 810 and/or one or more userinput interfaces 812 (e.g., input/output unit). The display may beconfigured to present or otherwise display information to a user,suitable examples of which include a liquid crystal display (LCD),light-emitting diode display (LED), plasma display panel (PDP) or thelike. The user input interfaces may be wired or wireless, and may beconfigured to receive information from a user into the apparatus, suchas for processing, storage and/or display. Suitable examples of userinput interfaces include a microphone, image or video capture device,keyboard or keypad, joystick, touch-sensitive surface (separate from orintegrated into a touchscreen), biometric sensor or the like. The userinterfaces may further include one or more interfaces for communicatingwith peripherals such as printers, scanners or the like.

As indicated above, program code instructions may be stored in memory,and executed by a processor, to implement functions of the systems,subsystems, tools and their respective elements described herein. Aswill be appreciated, any suitable program code instructions may beloaded onto a computer or other programmable apparatus from acomputer-readable storage medium to produce a particular machine, suchthat the particular machine becomes a means for implementing thefunctions specified herein. These program code instructions may also bestored in a computer-readable storage medium that can direct a computer,a processor or other programmable apparatus to function in a particularmanner to thereby generate a particular machine or particular article ofmanufacture. The instructions stored in the computer-readable storagemedium may produce an article of manufacture, where the article ofmanufacture becomes a means for implementing functions described herein.The program code instructions may be retrieved from a computer-readablestorage medium and loaded into a computer, processor or otherprogrammable apparatus to configure the computer, processor or otherprogrammable apparatus to execute operations to be performed on or bythe computer, processor or other programmable apparatus.

Retrieval, loading and execution of the program code instructions may beperformed sequentially such that one instruction is retrieved, loadedand executed at a time. In some example implementations, retrieval,loading and/or execution may be performed in parallel such that multipleinstructions are retrieved, loaded, and/or executed together. Executionof the program code instructions may produce a computer-implementedprocess such that the instructions executed by the computer, processoror other programmable apparatus provide operations for implementingfunctions described herein.

Execution of instructions by a processor, or storage of instructions ina computer-readable storage medium, supports combinations of operationsfor performing the specified functions. In this manner, an apparatus 800may include a processor 802 and a computer-readable storage medium ormemory 804 coupled to the processor, where the processor is configuredto execute computer-readable program code 806 stored in the memory. Itwill also be understood that one or more functions, and combinations offunctions, may be implemented by special purpose hardware-based computersystems and/or processors which perform the specified functions, orcombinations of special purpose hardware and program code instructions.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forthherein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which thedisclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing description and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is tobe understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specificimplementations disclosed and that modifications and otherimplementations are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Moreover, although the foregoing description and theassociated drawings describe example implementations in the context ofcertain example combinations of elements and/or functions, it should beappreciated that different combinations of elements and/or functions maybe provided by alternative implementations without departing from thescope of the appended claims. In this regard, for example, differentcombinations of elements and/or functions than those explicitlydescribed above are also contemplated as may be set forth in some of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising a processor and a memorystoring executable instructions that, in response to execution by theprocessor, cause the apparatus to at least: receive a first electronicdocument for a manufactured product, the first electronic documentincluding first data regarding the manufactured product; extract thefirst data from the first electronic document; correlate the first dataso extracted and second data regarding the manufactured product toproduce aggregated data including the first data and second data; andstore the aggregated data in a storage from which the aggregated data isqueryable.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory storesfurther executable instructions that, in response to execution by theprocessor, cause the apparatus to further at least: receive a secondelectronic document for the manufactured product, the second electronicdocument including the second data; and extract the second data from thesecond electronic document, wherein the second electronic document isreceived, and the second data is extracted, before the first data andsecond data are correlated.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thememory stores further executable instructions that, in response toexecution by the processor, cause the apparatus to further at least:receive a third electronic document for the manufactured product, thethird electronic document including third data regarding themanufactured product; extract the third data from the third electronicdocument; correlate the aggregated data and the third data so extractedto produce further aggregated data including the aggregated data andthird data; and store the further aggregated data in the storage fromwhich the further aggregated data is queryable.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 3, wherein the apparatus being caused to correlate the first dataand second data includes being caused to correlate items of the firstdata and items of the second data, and wherein the apparatus beingcaused to correlate the aggregated data and the third data includesbeing caused to correlate the items of first data and items of thirddata, and thereby correlate the items of second data and the items ofthird data, the items of third data otherwise being incapable ofcorrelation with the items of second data.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the first data and second data are in a markup language format,and items of the first data and items of the second data areencapsulated by tags of the markup language format, and wherein theapparatus being caused to correlate the first data and second dataincludes being caused to correlate the items of first data and items ofthe second data based at least in part on the tags.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the first data is in a markup language format, and theapparatus being caused to correlate the first data and second dataincludes being caused to recognize items of the first data and theirrelationship to items of the second data independent of the markuplanguage format.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory storesfurther executable instructions that, in response to execution by theprocessor, cause the apparatus to further at least: receive a searchquery; execute the search query on the aggregated data, includingretrieval of items of first data and correlated items of second data;and produce a response to the search query including the items of firstdata and correlated items of second data.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the first electronic maintenance document is a task card manualwith first data including a description of maintenance tasks on or usingparts of the manufactured product, and the second electronic maintenancedocument is an illustrated parts catalog with second data including adescription of the parts of the manufactured product, and wherein thememory stores further executable instructions that, in response toexecution by the processor, cause the apparatus to further at least:receive a search query for a task card from the task card manual;execute the search query on the aggregated data, including retrieval ofa description of a maintenance task covered by the task card from thefirst data, and a list of parts for the maintenance task from the seconddata; and produce a response to the search query including thedescription of the maintenance task and the list of parts for themaintenance task.
 9. A method comprising: receiving a first electronicdocument for a manufactured product, the first electronic documentincluding first data regarding the manufactured product; extracting thefirst data from the first electronic document; correlating the firstdata so extracted and second data regarding the manufactured product toproduce aggregated data including the first data and second data; andstoring the aggregated data in a storage from which the aggregated datais queryable.
 10. The method of claim 9 further comprising: receiving asecond electronic document for the manufactured product, the secondelectronic document including the second data; and extracting the seconddata from the second electronic document, wherein the second electronicdocument is received, and the second data is extracted, before the firstdata and second data are correlated.
 11. The method of claim 9 furthercomprising: receiving a third electronic document for the manufacturedproduct, the third electronic document including third data regardingthe manufactured product; extracting the third data from the thirdelectronic document; correlating the aggregated data and the third dataso extracted to produce further aggregated data including the aggregateddata and third data; and storing the further aggregated data in thestorage from which the further aggregated data is queryable.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein correlating the first data and second dataincludes correlating items of the first data and items of the seconddata, and wherein correlating the aggregated data and the third dataincludes correlating the items of first data and items of third data,and thereby correlating the items of second data and the items of thirddata, the items of third data otherwise being incapable of correlationwith the items of second data.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein thefirst data and second data are in a markup language format, and items ofthe first data and items of the second data are encapsulated by tags ofthe markup language format, and wherein correlating the first data andsecond data includes correlating the items of first data and items ofthe second data based at least in part on the tags.
 14. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the first data is in a markup language format, andcorrelating the first data and second data includes recognizing items ofthe first data and their relationship to items of the second dataindependent of the markup language format.
 15. The method of claim 9further comprising: receiving a search query; executing the search queryon the aggregated data, including retrieving items of first data andcorrelated items of second data; and producing a response to the searchquery including the items of first data and correlated items of seconddata.
 16. The method of claim 9, wherein the first electronicmaintenance document is a task card manual with first data including adescription of maintenance tasks on or using parts of the manufacturedproduct, and the second electronic maintenance document is anillustrated parts catalog with second data including a description ofthe parts of the manufactured product, and wherein the method furthercomprises: receiving a search query for a task card from the task cardmanual; executing the search query on the aggregated data, includingretrieval of a description of a maintenance task covered by the taskcard from the first data, and a list of parts for the maintenance taskfrom the second data; and producing a response to the search queryincluding the description of the maintenance task and the list of partsfor the maintenance task.
 17. A computer-readable storage medium that isnon-transitory and has computer-readable program code portions storedtherein that in response to execution by a processor, cause an apparatusto at least: receive a first electronic document for a manufacturedproduct, the first electronic document including first data regardingthe manufactured product; extract the first data from the firstelectronic document; correlate the first data so extracted and seconddata regarding the manufactured product to produce aggregated dataincluding the first data and second data; and store the aggregated datain a storage from which the aggregated data is queryable.
 18. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 17 having furthercomputer-readable program code portions stored therein that in responseto execution by the processor, cause the apparatus to further at least:receive a second electronic document for the manufactured product, thesecond electronic document including the second data regarding themanufactured product; and extract the second data from the secondelectronic document, wherein the second electronic document is received,and the second data is extracted, before the first data and second dataare correlated.
 19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17having further computer-readable program code portions stored thereinthat in response to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus tofurther at least: receive a third electronic document for themanufactured product, the third electronic document including third dataregarding the manufactured product; extract the third data from thethird electronic document; correlate the aggregated data and the thirddata so extracted to produce further aggregated data including theaggregated data and third data; and store the further aggregated data inthe storage from which the further aggregated data is queryable.
 20. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the apparatusbeing caused to correlate the first data and second data includes beingcaused to correlate items of the first data and items of the seconddata, and wherein the apparatus being caused to correlate the aggregateddata and the third data includes being caused to correlate the items offirst data and items of third data, and thereby correlate the items ofsecond data and the items of third data, the items of third dataotherwise being incapable of correlation with the items of second data.21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the firstdata and second data are in a markup language format, and items of thefirst data and items of the second data are encapsulated by tags of themarkup language format, and wherein the apparatus being caused tocorrelate the first data and second data includes being caused tocorrelate the items of first data and items of the second data based atleast in part on the tags.
 22. The computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 17, wherein the first data is in a markup language format, and theapparatus being caused to correlate the first data and second dataincludes being caused to recognize items of the first data and theirrelationship to items of the second data independent of the markuplanguage format.
 23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17having further computer-readable program code portions stored thereinthat in response to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus tofurther at least: receive a search query; execute the search query onthe aggregated data, including retrieval of items of first data andcorrelated items of second data; and produce a response to the searchquery including the items of first data and correlated items of seconddata.
 24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein thefirst electronic maintenance document is a task card manual with firstdata including a description of maintenance tasks on or using parts ofthe manufactured product, and the second electronic maintenance documentis an illustrated parts catalog with second data including a descriptionof the parts of the manufactured product, and wherein thecomputer-readable storage medium has further computer-readable programcode portions stored therein that in response to execution by theprocessor, cause the apparatus to further at least: receive a searchquery for a task card from the task card manual; execute the searchquery on the aggregated data, including retrieval of a description of amaintenance task covered by the task card from the first data, and alist of parts for the maintenance task from the second data; and producea response to the search query including the description of themaintenance task and the list of parts for the maintenance task.